Champions League matches in Group D
Team news and probable team line-ups for Wednesday's Champions League matches in Group D:
Team news and probable team line-ups for Wednesday's Champions League matches in Group D:
REAL SOCIEDAD v JUVENTUS
Beaten 4-2 by Juventus a fortnight ago and 4-0 away to Atletico Madrid in the Primera Liga last week, Real recovered some morale by holding Barcelona to a 3-3 draw at the weekend.
Raynald Denoueix will probably have a full squad to choose from for the return against Juventus, as long as Serbia and Montenegro striker Darko Kovacevic recovers from a bout of 'flu.
Kovacevic, a former Juventus player, was confined to bed by the illness on Monday but still hopes to be fit in time.
Juventus coach Marcello Lippi has opted to rest several of his first team regulars for the trip to Spain with French striker David Trezeguet, his compatriot Lilian Thuram and Italy full-back Gianluca Zambrotta all given a break.
Lippi has rotated his squad throughout the season but has usually picked his strongest team in Europe and given his second line their chance in Serie A.
With Alessandro Del Piero sidelined, Marco Di Vaio, scorer of a superb equaliser in the 1-1 draw with AC Milan on Saturday, will be partnered by Fabrizio Miccoli.
Alessandro Birindelli, Gianluca Pessotto, Edgar Davids and Antonio Conte are all in contention for places in the starting line-up.
Probable teams:
Real Sociedad: 25-Sander Westerveld, 14-Aitor Lopez Rekarte, 7-Igor Jauregi, 6-Gabriel Schurrer, 3-Agustin Aranzabal, 4-Xabi Alonso, 18-Bittor Alkiza, 21-Oscar de Paula, 10-Javi de Pedro, 9-Darko Kovacevic, 15-Nihat Kahveci.
Juventus: 1-Gianluigi Buffon, 15-Alessandro Birindelli, 23-Nicola Legrottaglie, 4-Paolo Montero, 7-Gianluca Pessotto, 16-Mauro Camoranesi, 26-Edgar Davids, 3-Alessio Tacchinardi (or 8-Antonio Conte), 11-Pavel Nedved, 9-Fabrizio Miccoli, 20-Marco Di Vaio.
Referee: Stephane Bre (France).
OLYMPIAKOS v GALATASARAY
Olympiakos striker Neri Castillo is facing a club versus country tug of war after winning his first senior call up for Uruguay. The teenage forward is expected to start against Galatasaray but could miss the next round of matches later in November.
His potential replacement, Alekos Tatsis, is a doubt for Wednesday after picking up a knock in training. Otherwise, coach Oleg Protasov has no new injuries or suspensions.
Galatasaray coach Fatih Terim is expected to make few changes to the team which drew 0-0 with Istanbul rivals Besiktas in a league game on Friday. However, Romanian striker Florin Bratu is ineligible to play in Europe and his place in the starting line-up will probably be taken by Hasan Sas.
Sas should be partnered by leading Turkish goalscorer Hakan Sukur, who is being treated for a sore toe he picked up in the Besiktas match but is expected to be fit in time. Striker Umit Karan and midfielder Volkan Arslan are both unavailable, though, due to injury.
Probable teams:
Olympiakos: 22-Fanis Kateryiannakis, 3-Stelios Venetidis, 14-Dimitris Mavrogenidis, 18-Paraskevas Antzas, 32-George Anatolakis, 1-Pantelis Kafes, 6-Ieroklis Stoltidis, 11-Predrag Djordjevic, 30-Alekos Pantos, 10-Giovanni, 7-Neri Castillo.
Galatasaray: 1-Faryd Mondragon, 29-Cesar Prates, 5-Frank de Boer, 3-Bulent Korkmaz, 4-Orhan Ak, 55-Sabri Sarioglu, 18-Ayhan Akman 19-Cihan Haspolatli, 67-Ergun Penbe, 11-Hasan Sas, 10-Hakan Sukur.
Referee: Lubos Michel (Slovakia).